Promotional effect of colloidal alumina on the activity of the In/HZSM-5 catalyst for the selective reduction of NO with methane

Colloidal alumina was used to improve the activity of an In/HZSM-5 catalyst for the selective reduction of NO with CH4 in the excess of oxygen. Compared with In/HZSM-5, the In/HZSM-5/Al2O3 catalyst showed higher activity in a wide range of reaction temperatures. It is visualized that a synergetic effect between In/HZSM-5 and Al2O3 enhances the conversion of NOx. The addition of Al2O3 improved the conversion of NO to NO2 and facilitated the activation of methane. An In/HZSM-5/Al2O3 pre-treated with steam for 15 h at 700 degreesC still showed a high activity for the removal of NOx with methane, while an In/HZSM-5 similarly pre-treated with steam showed a lower activity than the fresh sample. The activity of the In/HZSM-5/Al2O3 catalyst could be restored completely after water vapor was removed from the feed gas. Furthermore, it was found that the In/HZSM-5/Al2O3 remained fairly active under high GHSV and O-2 concentration conditions. It was also interesting to find that an increase in NO content could enhance the conversion of methane, and this illustrates that the existence of NO is beneficial for the activation of methane. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.